Passive Coping Strategies

Synonyms

Definition

Coping is the set of intentional, goal-directed efforts people engage in to minimize the physical, psychological, or social harm of an event or situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Lazarus, 1999). There are many different theoretical and empirical frameworks for understanding coping and many different ways of classifying coping strategies, but one such classification is “passive coping.” Passive coping refers to feeling of helplessness to deal with the stressor and relying on others to resolve the stressful event or situation (Zeidner & Endler, 1996). Those engaging in passive coping relinquish to others the control of the stressful situation and of their reaction to that situation, or allow other areas of their lives to be adversely affected by the stressful event or situation (Field, McCabe, & Schneiderman, 1985). This reliance on external resources is contrasted with “active coping,” in which the individual is relying upon their own...